More and more couples are seeing their dream of having a child come true with assisted reproduction methods. In addition, the number of couples from abroad who travel to Thessaloniki for this purpose is also increasing.

The scientific developments that have taken place recently in the specific field were the focus of a Scientific Conference on “2023… Goals and challenges in Assisted Reproduction”, organized today by the FIVI Medically Assisted Reproduction Unit and held at the Amphitheater of the Trans-Balkan Medical Center of Thessaloniki.

The president of the National Authority of Medically Assisted Reproduction, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the medical school of the Greek Academy of Sciences, Nikolaos Vrachnis, referred to the changes since the passing of Law 4958 on assisted reproduction.

As he said, there are changes in the social cryopreservation of women’s schedules and now the specific procedure can be done for reasons other than medical ones.

“Every woman can cryopreserve her genetic material and use it later. Women aged 33-35 who will proceed with this procedure will have an 80% chance of having a child. For women aged 40, the chances drop to 25%, and for those over 45, the chance of having a child is almost 0%,” he said.

He even pointed out that the solar limit for assisted reproduction has been increased from 50 to 54 years, which means that a woman can have a child until the age of 54.

Moreover, he added that as far as the genetic material is concerned, the donor can now be named, that is, the parents can know the donor. In fact, it is possible for relatives to be able to give genetic material to a couple if they so wish, as noted by Mr. Vrachnis.

Georgios Pantos, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, AUTH, president of the Hellenic Society of Fertility, Sterility, referred to the importance of assisted reproduction but also to its leaps and bounds.

“Today, with the liberal legislative framework in place, Greece is an attractive destination for IVF. We can apply all the new methods such as blastocyst transfer for the quality of transferred hours, the control of women over 40 years old. These combined with the fact that it has been proven that the transfer of an embryo is accompanied by excellent results. Life starts here, from FIVI,” said Mr. Pantos, pointing out that it is very important that women have the possibility to preserve their fertility.

He also emphasized that our country has everything that makes it an ideal destination that is chosen by more and more couples who wish to become parents.

“Greece is a model and attractive destination for IVF. We have scientific staff, managerial staff, there is a logistical infrastructure and therefore we can apply all methods of assisted reproduction”, he noted.

For his part, the professor of Obstetrics – Gynecology and Assisted Reproduction, AUTH, Stratis Kolymbianakis, underlined the importance of pre-implantation diagnosis, where by examining some cells, it can be diagnosed if the embryo is healthy.

“One of the most important things is how we will manage to transfer to the uterus of women in order to achieve pregnancy chromosomally normal embryos, i.e. free of abnormalities in the genetic material. If we don’t do this, then the woman won’t get pregnant or will end up having a pregnancy that will lead to miscarriage. Pre-implantation diagnosis is nothing more than the examination of a small number of cells from an embryo in order to establish that these cells are normal, therefore the embryo from which they come is a normal embryo” he noted, emphasizing, however, that the legislation in our country does not allow it for women under forty, something they are trying to change.

The general manager of the Athens Medical Group, Giorgos Zerdilas, referred to the high-level services offered by the Medically Assisted Reproduction Unit of the Transbalkanic Medical Center of Thessaloniki.

“Today’s meeting coincided with the three years of successful operation of Phoebe, the leading reproduction unit based on top-notch equipment, a pioneering laboratory and with excellent medical partners and staff. Within these three years of operation, with everyone’s hard work, FIVI has now won a place in the consciousness of all the people of northern Greece and beyond,” said Mr. Zerdilas.